Top Stories
Man charged over London bombings Ismael Abdurahman was arrested in connection with the July 21 bombings in London and has been charged with terrorism offences. He is the first person to get charged in connection with the attacks. All passengers survive Toronto plane crash Air France flight number 358, an Airbus A340 from Paris, ran off the end of the runway of Toronto's Pearson International Airport and burst into flames. 43 people are reported to have minor injuries.

Featured story
U.S. immigrant worker debate taken up by Virginia township In a plan spearheaded by Bill Threlkeld, local officials were lobbied to use taxpayer money to build a regulated day laborer center in an old police station. This they say would get the day-laborer groups off the street. The plan has the backing of Herndon mayor, Michael L. O'Reilly.

Wikipedia Current Events
Two people are known to have died following a bomb blast in Istanbul, Turkey. The BBC has uncovered documents which reveal that in 1958 the British Government helped Israel attain nuclear weapons. The chairman of the British Council of Mosques and Imams has advised British muslim women to refrain from wearing clothing, such as the Hijab, which identifies them as Muslim following a large increase in Islamophobia and Hate crimes. Oracle Corporation acquires i-flex.
Wikipedia Current Events
Mo Mowlam, the former Northern Ireland Secretary, has been admitted to hospital, apparently critically ill. 14 US Marines have been killed following an insurgent attack in Haditha, north-western Iraq. US Officials deny that a Marine has been taken hostage. More than 800 people have been wounded and 84 killed in the violence which erupted in Sudan after ex-rebel southern leader Garang died in a helicopter crash. In Singapore, an announcement was made declaring the election date for the presidential election to be on 27 August, with nomination day slated for 17 August. NBC Universal gets permission from parent company GE to buy Dreamworks. In Australia, Morris Iemma becomes the 40th Premier of New South Wales after being elected unopposed as leader of the state Australian Labor Party. In Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially becomes new president. In Saudi Arabia the new King Abdullah has been invested. Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, along with many European Monarchs are present for the "bayaa" ceremony while George Bush Senior and Dick Cheney will meet with the new King the following day. In Malaysia, former deputy premier Ibrahim receives apology and compensation from former chief of police Noor, who beat him September 1999 ago when he was arrested on dubious grounds. In return, Ibrahim drops the case again him. Australian justice minister Chris Ellison wants to create tough laws against practice of sending young girls overseas to forced marriages.

Ceremony takes place for decommissioned Royal Navy flagship

The decommissioning ceremony for the former British Royal Navy flagship HMS Invincible has taken place in Portsmouth, Hampshire today.

The ceremony marks the end of the aircraft carrier's 25-year career. Invincible was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 11 July 1980 and first saw service in the Falklands War in 1982. The Duke of York served aboard Invincible as a helicopter pilot.

Pipers played aboard Invincible while it sailed into Portsmouth Naval Base on 1 August for the last time. A gun salute and a flypast also marked the event.

Last month, Invincible undertook a UK tour to celebrate the ship's silver jubilee. In June, the carried acted as flagship for the International Fleet Review to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that Invincible would be 'mothballed' for five-years in a state of reduced readiness.

It is unlikely that Invincible will ever be recommissioned into the Royal Navy.

The MoD said that a decision to either sell, scrap or even turn Invincible into a museum ship will be made in 2010.

The decommissioning took place six-months earlier than planned and has prompted fears that the Royal Navy will be left overstretched. The move has been criticised by the opposition Conservative Party, who say that it will reduce the Royal Navy's capability at a time of "unprecedented international tension".

Ark Royal is about to undergo a major refit at Rosyth, which leaves Illustrious — the Royal Navy's new Fleet Flagship — as the only aircraft carrier on active service.

The three aircraft carriers are expected to be replaced by 2015 with two 65,000 tonne aircraft carriers — believed to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

Football CL: Second qualifying round final results

All second qualifying round games of UEFA Champions League were played yesterday and today. Celtic almost managed to pull off a miracle, by scoring 4 goals at home against Artmedia, but were one goal short of forcing the game into extra time. For results please visit us online at en.wikinews.org

Speeding ticket paid with 12,000 pennies

A Seattle man ticketed for speeding near Moorhead, Minnesota decided to pay up, but instead of paying by cheque or money notes, he paid in pennies at court. The judge reacted with this comment: "If the person is mad at the cop, why take it out on court administration?" said Clay County District Judge John Pearson. "They're punishing the wrong people.".

The man was made to wait for the pennies to be counted using a coin counting machine by a court clerk who left with the small garbage can of pennies for a bank. $120 in notes, plus extra pennies in change, were paid back to the man, who was forced to wait in the courthouse until the coins were counted and he could pay the fine.

He was caught driving 70 mph in a 55 mph zone on March 5 in Moorhead, Minnesota.

The San Diego Zoo gets a new baby giant panda

A new giant panda cub has been born at the San Diego Zoo. Bai Yun, a 13-year-old giant panda, gave birth at 9:57 p.m. on Tuesday to a cub weighing 4 ounces (113.5 grams).

"Bai Yun immediately tended to her squawking infant," said Suzanne Hall, a panda research technician at the San Diego Zoo who observed the births of Bai Yun’s other cubs in 1999 and 2003. The cub is the second to be born in the United States this year. In Washington, Mei Xiang gave birth to a male panda cub at the National Zoo last month after artificial insemination.

According to Hall, early ultrasound images indicated Bai Yun was pregnant with twins. However, zoo personnel became suspicious that one fetus was no longer viable after veterinarians failed to detect a heartbeat in one cub last week. Bai Yun failed to give birth to a second cub Tuesday evening. "It is likely that the second fetus died in utero and was reabsorbed by her body," Hall said.

Panda behavioral researchers will be watching the pair 24 hours a day for three weeks to record and assess the mother-infant relationship. The new cub has not yet been named. The gender of the cub will be unknown until zoo staff can safely check.

Man charged over London bombings

Ismael Abdurahman was arrested in connection with the July 21 bombings in London and has been charged with terrorism offences. He is the first person to be charged in connection with the attacks.

The charge reads: "Between July 23 and July 28 he had information he knew or believed might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of another person in the UK for an offence involving the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism."

He will appear before Bow Street Magistrates in London on August 4.

Brain dead woman gives birth

Susan Torres, a women who had been on life support because she is brain-dead gave birth to a daughter by Caesarean section on Tuesday. The baby , Susan Anne Catherine Torres, weighs 1 pound, 13 ounces, and is 13 1/2 inches long.

The mother Susan Torres, had a stroke on May 7 when the condition of her stage four melanoma went to her brain. Doctors said her brain functions had stopped and there was no hope of recovery.

Susan's husband, Jason Torres, asked that his wife be placed on artificial life support until their unborn child had a chance to develop and the baby could survive outside the mother's womb. Mrs. Torres was 17 weeks pregnant on May 7 when she was hospitalized for her condition. The fetus was in its 27th week of development when it was delivered.

The baby reportedly "is doing well" and is in intensive care at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County, Virginia. Mr. Torres, who quit his job to be at his wife's side, is faced with thousands in medical expenses.

The mother died on Wednesday after being taken off life support. A fund has been set up for her at: The Susan M. Torres Fund

Albanian girl murdered in tangle of crime

An Albanian girl who publicly exposed alleged corruption in the Vlorë police department has died violently. The seventeen year old Joana Dudushi revealed on live television in April that officers forced her to work as a prostitute. Dudushi would later accuse her patrons of rape and police would collect hefty bribes to let them off. She was found stabbed to death in the Albanian port city Vlorë.

Dudushi had not been placed in witness protection as her accusations did not lead to any convictions. An internal investigation of the Vlorë police found no evidence of wrong-doing on the part of officers in the case of the alleged forced prostitution.

The murder probably took place on Sunday, July 31 according to the local police, which also states that at least ten suspects have been questioned. The body of Joana Dudushi was found near her apartment where she lived with her two-month-old baby.

New 'Mighty Mouse' from Apple

Apple Computer Inc. today revealed a new product named Mighty Mouse. The mouse has four buttons and a small 360 degree scroll trackball. This product will not only be compatible with the Macintosh but also with Windows operating systems.

The list of products being developed by Apple has grown recently with the most popular being compatible with Windows, the iPod. Soon Apple will start using microprocessors made by Intel which will be compatible with the Windows operating system.

This new mouse will be very similar to the one for Macintosh computers. It is white and has a rounded feel to it. The only difference is the trackball used for scrolling through documents and web pages. This will be the first mouse product made by Apple that has more than one mouse button on it. Its US price is $49, UK price is £35.

German Adidas buys American Reebok

Adidas, the second largest sports clothes manufacturer in the world, has announced it has struck a deal with the American company Reebok for EUR 3.1 billion. The deal has to be agreed by the Reebok shareholders.

Adidas is doing this to increase it's share in the US market and to compete with Nike, the largest sports brand in the world. Even after the merger, Nike will still be larger than the combined companies.

Reebok's shares have risen by 16% to $51. Adidas is offering $59 a share.

Herbert Hainer, Adidas CEO, said "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to combine two of the most respected and well-known companies in the worldwide sporting goods industry". If the companies combine their sales will be a staggering EUR 9 billion a year.

Getting more into the North American market is important for Addidas because it accounts for about 50% of the global sporting good market.

When, or if, the bid does go through Adidas will own many well known brands, most noticeably Adidas and Reebok but also Taylormade, Rockport, Greg Norman Collection, Maxfli, CCM, Jofa and Koho.

Earlier this years Adidas profits rose 39%, to EUR 94 million.

Two-story building in Lynn, Massachusetts catches fire

A two-story building caught fire yesterday afternoon on Boston Street in Lynn, Massachusetts. The fire engulfed the entire second floor and left nothing of the Essex County building.

According to a witness, the fire started while children were cooking french fries in an apartment on the second floor.

The fire took its toll on the firefighters, many were suffering from heat exhaustion. However, a tent was set up by a rehab truck, offering firefighters a chance to recover.

The fire was finally put out, however, some portions of the structure did reignite with small flames. Firefighters climbed onto the roof and began tearing it open in order to find the source of the reignitions. A ladder truck also sprayed down the roof.

According to a witness, the roof was a tarred double roof, which may have been a factor that caused the fire to be so troublesome.

The first floor consisted of storefronts for a convenience store and a video store. The second floor held apartments.

This article contains first-hand journalism by a Wikinews Reporter.

United States Homeland Security network monitors suspicious activity

he United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is deploying its new Homeland Security Information Network - Secret (HSIN-Secret) in all 50 state Emergency Operations Centers as well as 18 additional state and local law enforcement sites. "The secret network is a component of the HSIN, which is the primary conduit for DHS to share information on terrorist threats, suspicious activity and incident management with state, local, tribal and private-sector officials." reports Government Computer News.

Development on this $350 million system by Northrop Grumman Corporation was begun in March of 2004 with basic operation achieved in just 4 months.

"The Homeland is more secure when each hometown is more secure," said Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge in DHS's February 24, 2004 press release that launched the program. "Future program expansion will include the county level, communication at the classified SECRET level, and the involvement of the private sector." it continues.

With the "Secret" component in place, classified information can now be disseminated to authorized individuals at all levels of government and business throughout the country almost instantly. HSIN lets most government agencies as well as many private companies doing business with the government share information on the whereabouts and suspicious activities of anyone that comes to their attention. Internal policies and the judgement of the system's users provide privacy and civil rights protections, while who can access the system is determined by DHS.

Spiders' egg case silk gene found

Black widow spider (Lactrodectus hesperus) and egg sac. Photograph by Mark Chappell of University of California, Riverside.

Two researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found a gene coding for a silk protein used by female spiders to construct their egg cases. The research confirms that the silk protein used for the egg case is different than that used in spider webs. Spider silks are renowned for their superior material properties, being among the toughest known natural fibers. The researchers' findings may lead to new applications of spider silks for novel high-tech materials. The researchers, Jessica Garb and Cheryl Hayashi, published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on August 1, in the early edition of the journal.

Until now, the sequence of the silk protein used to construct the egg case was unknown. The team characterized the egg case silk protein from multiple spider species and found within a species its gene was composed of nearly identical, repeating sequences. The repeat units were also similar across species that diverged more than 125 million years ago. Their findings suggest that the egg case silk gene has been undergoing what is known as concerted evolution where mutations in one part of the gene "spread" to other parts of the same gene, creating a highly repetitive gene sequence.

"The protein of the egg-case fibers has a different function altogether from that of the other silks such as dragline or capture silks," Garb said. "Egg-case silk has to last a long time and therefore must be durable under a wide variety of conditions, from freezing to very high temperatures. It needs to be strong enough to protect the eggs from threats such as predators, parasites and molds."

Although the egg case silk protein is extremely different, its gene sequence shares certain features in common with all other spider silk genes. According to Garb, this discovery confirms that spider silk genes comprise what is known as a "gene family". This means that silk genes first evolved with spiders approximately 400 million years ago and subsequently evolved into different genes specifically used for different functions, such as genes for spider webs or genes for egg cases (Gatesy et al. 2001). The researchers also suggest that there are many more silk genes that remain unknown, particularly as there are more than 37,000 known species of spiders, and silk genes sequences have been described from only a few species.

According to the team, this unknown diversity of silk genes may not only be important for understanding spider evolution but also for the development of genetically modified fibers. "Collectively, spider silks are some of the toughest natural fibers known," Hayashi said. "Imagine a fabric made from such a substance? It would be incredibly strong, flexible and ultimately, biodegradable."

Freman Hendrix eclipses Kwame Kilpatrick in Detroit mayoral race

Challenger Freman Hendrix has upset incumbent Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the August 2 Detroit mayoral primary election. The top two contenders will face each other in the general election on November 8. Kilpatrick, the youngest mayor in Detroit history, is seeking his second term.

The Detroit Free Press reports that with 664 of the city's 720 precincts reporting (92 percent), Hendrix had 44 percent of the vote, Kilpatrick had 34 percent, City Councilwoman Sharon McPhail had 12 percent, and state Sen. Hansen Clarke had 9 percent. Eight also-rans accounted for the remainder of the vote.

The results closely agree with an exit poll by local TV station WDIV and Mitchell Research, which had challenger Hendrix as the winner with 46 percent of the vote, Kilpatrick with 30 percent, McPhail with 11 percent, while state Sen. Hansen Clarke rounded out the top four with 9 percent. Mitchell Research & Communications's pollsters interviewed 600 people who said they voted. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

U.S. immigrant worker debate taken up by Virginia township

Bill Threlked said, "What we want to try to do here is build activities where people can begin to understand each other and feel like everybody here is a neighbor one with another."

In a scene repeated across much of America, each morning a group of day laborers, mostly immigrants, assemble by a 7-Eleven convenience store in the hopes of getting work.

Imposing daily gatherings of sometimes nearly 200 people near the nation's capital in Herndon, Virginia, consists of people who do much of the hard and dangerous work not wanted by most U.S. citizens. It has drawn the ire and compassion of the Herndon community. A public hearing Monday night to discuss a new plan drew an overflowing crowd to the Town Council chambers. The Commission said so many people signed up to speak at the hearing that the panel will need to convene again Tuesday night.

For years groups and businesses among the community who want to help the day laborers have been working on the issue. In a plan spearheaded by Bill Threlkeld, of the group Project Hope and Harmony, they lobbied Herndon officials to use taxpayer money to build a regulated day laborer center in an old police station at the edge of town. This they say would get the day-laborer group(s) off the street. The plan has the backing of Herndon mayor, Michael L. O'Reilly.

The plan would also combine the opening of the center with a new local ordinance that would make it a misdemeanor crime for a laborer to seek work at any location other than the official one. Opponents of the plan say the town would be aiding illegal immigrants if it established the center.

A Pew Hispanic Center survey found a 25% increase over 4 years in the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. The number now is estimated to have reached about 10.3 million. Local governments do not have the authority to enforce national immigration laws, so the town of Herndon must rely on federal officials, who show little interest in getting involved.

Attorney Jack Thompson sets sights on Sims 2

Attorney Jack Thompson, fresh from the "Hot Coffee" controversy, has set his sights on the Electronic Arts (EA) video game The Sims 2 for a mod that removed the blur on nude character models in the game.

Thompson was quoted as saying "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise ... contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." Factually, the characters resemble that of a child's dolls. Thompson also accused EA of being in collaboration with the mod makers.

In Electronic Arts' defense, EA spokesman Jeff Brown said, “Reasonable people understand there is nothing improper in the game. Reasonable people recognise what mods are. A consumer who chooses to use a mod does so without any kind of agreement with the company. There is no nudity. There is nothing improper or vulgar in the Sims 2.”

A mod is third-party add-on to a game. Mods range from minor and subtle changes to the game, to full-fledged "total conversions" which merely use the original game engine to create a very different game.

Today in History
1578 - King Sebastian of Portugal was presumably killed in action when his troops were defeated in the Battle of Alcazarquivir, leading to a dynastic crisis.

1790 - A newly passed tariff act in the United States established the Revenue Cutter Service.

1914 - World War I: Adhering to the terms in the 1839 Treaty of London, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the German invasion of Belgium.

1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Two destroyers of the U.S. Navy were reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1983 - A coup d'état led by Blaise Compaoré made Thomas Sankara President of Upper Volta.

Quote of the Day

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains: round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley ~

About Wikinews
We are a group of volunteer journalists whose mission is to create a diverse community where citizens from around the globe (including you) can collaborate to report the news on a wide variety of current events.If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit en.wikinews.org All stories on Wikinews are in the public domain. By making our content perpetually available for free redistribution and use, we hope to contribute to a global digital commons. Wikinews also aims to write stories from a neutral point of view. Got news and no computer? Call the Wikinews Hotline +1-866-653-4265 (toll-free in the U.S.) +1-202-742-5918 (outside the U.S.)
Audio Wikinews
Audio Wikinews is a public domain, non point-of-view news radio program recorded daily. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Audio_Wikinews
About Wikinews Print Edition
For more information about Wikinews Print Edition visit: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Print_edition

Thursday, August 4, 2005	Wikinews	Page 2

If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit www.wikinews.org

August 4, 2005	The free-content news source that you can write!	Page 2

If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit en.wikinews.org

Wikinews Back Page

2005-08-03T19:24:52